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Photos show extent of oil leaks on LPD 17

NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy on Monday confirmed the authenticity of photos revealing corrosion and oil leaks aboard the amphibious transport dock San Antonio, which began circulating on the Internet over the weekend. But a Navy spokeswoman added that the damage did not pose a danger to sailors and Marines on the deployed ship.

Meanwhile, the lube oil system leaks, which forced the ship into a repair yard in Bahrain on Oct. 31 in the middle of its maiden deployment, are expected to take longer to fix than a previously expected two weeks, Pat Dolan, spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command, said Monday.

The extended overseas pit stop is due to trouble getting needed materials to fix leaks in the lube oil system, she said.

“We’ve had some delays as a result of materials shipment,” Dolan said. She did not specify what repair materials were needed to make the ship safe for operation. Officials originally said the ship would take two weeks to repair.

Dolan said engineers are conducting a “root-cause analysis” and making repairs to welds, noting “some that require replacing whole sections of pipe.”

As for the photos, Dolan said the problems were documented in early October and are cause for major concern, but added that the ship’s sailors and Marines are not in danger. One set of photos show what appears to be oil sprayed into a space from one of the leaks.

“Any time lube oil is leaking, we take that very seriously,” she said. “If you have leaking oil, that could cause a fire.”

When the Norfolk, Va.-based ship pulled into Bahrain on Oct. 31 in the midst of a cruise with the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, a team of more than 30 engineers, welders, pipe fitters and engineers — as well as Navy maintenance personnel — had already arrived from the U.S.

But initial reports indicate the job is bigger than first thought, and more repair specialists have been requested. “I think the number may have grown,” she said.

Dolan did not have a cost estimate for the repairs.

The extended layover in Bahrain is just the latest in a string of performance problems with the first-in-class ship that was delivered late and at $1.8 billion, $1 billion higher than planned. A July 2005 inspection report made clear the first ship of the LPD 17 class would have perpetual problems.

Inspectors found “poor construction and craftsmanship ... throughout the ship,” and officials singled out problems with wiring. “Poor initial cable-pulling practice led to what is now a snarled, over-packed, poorly assembled and virtually uncorrectable electrical/electronic cable plant,” the report said.

Its condition — along with another poor performance report in 2007 — prompted Navy Secretary Donald Winter to publicly chide shipbuilder Northrop Grumman, saying the fleet “still does not have a mission-capable ship” two years after delivery.

And in late August, on the eve of its maiden deployment, San Antonio was stuck at the pier for two days with a broken stern gate while the rest of the strike group got underway.

Now in the Persian Gulf, San Antonio needs weeks of work for a problem that might have been foreshadowed in the July 2005 inspection. “Lube oil temperature regulating valves in the main propulsion diesel engine (MPDE) lube oil systems were improperly set. Incorrectly regulated MPDE engine lube oil temperature prevented the ship from making full power for a sustained period.”

The April 2007 inspection report notes several subsequent lube oil problems, but Dolan said those particular deficiencies were corrected in a subsequent yard period.

While the ship is under repair in Bahrain, off-duty crew will be taking liberty ashore as well as conducting community relations projects, said Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. The ship also is carrying elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“They had a scheduled port visit,” he said, adding that it was extended at the outset for the critical repair work, now expected to take even longer.

Related items

• See the photos

• Previous story: San Antonio laid up in Bahrain

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